Sessional_Paper_1927 — Page 69

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The attitude of the Nationalist Government to the question appears in the follow- ing extract from a telegram received by the Governor of Hong Kong from Mr. E. Teichman, C.I.E., in Hankow :-

"The Minister for Foreign Affairs [Mr. Eugene Chen] yesterday [19th March, 1927] gave me his reply about Bias Bay in the sense that his Government considered that punitive measures against the villages on shore would be worse than useless, as they would not stop piracies on the high seas and would only provoke the pirates to reprisal; and that the best means of dealing with the evil was for us to station a man of war in the neighbourhood of Bias Bay for the purpose of intercepting pirated vessels; coupled with wireless precautions and increased vigilance especially over the crews at the ports of embarkation, where, (rather than in the Bias Bay villages), piracies were planned and pirate organizations were based".

The evil is thus admitted as is also the fact that its roots lie ashore; but no hint is given of any attempt to deal with it. Advice is tendered; but the patrol suggestion is open to the obvious reply that if called for at all it should be a matter for the Government claiming control of the district, and to the criticism that such a patrol afloat can hope at the best to deal only with a few pirates after their piracies have been completed

There is no suggestion of any co-operation at the "ports of embarkation, where, (rather than in the Bias Bay villages), piracies are planned and the organisation based." In China today men of all grades of life have taken to piracy, and the conditions are such that no action against them can hope for final success unless it is strongly supported by detective and executive action ashore. No charge of neglect in this connection can lie against the British Government, but the Nationalist Government, which claims control over essential parts of the "ports of embarkation", stands condemned by the words of its own Foreign Minister. So far from exhibiting a desire to shoulder an obvious responsibility, the quotation reveals an anxiety to divert attention from the Bias Bay area, the guilt of which is established by proof incontrovertible, to vague areas elsewhere where suspicions may be justified, but where proof has still to be provided by the Chinese authorities themselves, who voice the suspicion. The first sentence of the quotation given cannot but excite astonishment if it is to be taken at its face value. The more charitable view probably is that it is a matter of propaganda only. Chinese Governments have often complained that the foreign controlled areas of the country are responsible for all the ills of China, and have avoided responsibilities thereby. The same course still offers the same advantages but in addition the propaganda habit has become so strong among the Nationalists that even this opportunity, unreasonable as it is, cannot be resisted.

This augurs ill for the immediate possibility of cooperation, and the Commission- ers feel that the maintenance of this attitude with the continued absence of any attempt. by the Chinese to carry out an elementary international duty in their own territory justify a recommendation for independent action. Very strong reasons are required for such ac- tion, but Bias Bay at least supplies them in its direct connection with seventeen piracies in the last five years, nine having occurred in the last two years; and in the absence of a sustained or even serious attempt by any local authority to deal with an evil, which has for too long made the name notorious.

The Responsibility for combatting piracies.

While the roots remain, piracy will recur: and pending the necessary drastic ac- tion ashore, the Commission has therefore to consider the best means of mitigating the scourge, by way of preventing the operations of pirates on ships being successfully com- pleted.

(a) Piracies from without.

The question naturally falls into two parts, piracies from without and piracies from within. The latter, at one time practically unknown, seem to have replaced the former, once a standing menace to commerce throughout the seven seas. Among the steps taken to deal with piracy from without, the course of history shows that action by the British Navy was always the most important factor; but in connection with the "Minority Report" it is interesting to quote the following from the "Encyclopedia of the Laws of England', volume 11, page 139.

*This was written before the Bias Bay raid on 23rd March, 1927, but is allowed to stand as a general recom- mendation: Bias Bay merely affording a conspicuous example.